Here’s a hot item

January 7th, 2009 at 07:00am Barry Wood

Baseball Hall of Famer Casey Stengel often is associated with the saying “You could look it up.” And we could, but how many of us do?

When it comes to English, guessing is a bad strategy. Keep a dictionary handy. When you need to know whether a term is written as one word, two words or hyphenated, look it up. Nothing else will do.

For example, “hotshot” is one word. Change one letter, and you have “hot spot,” two words. Webster’s does accept two-word and hyphenated variations of “hotshot,” but most language hotshots prefer the one-word version.

A “hot pepper” is two words. It may have been grown in a “hotbed” or a “hothouse,” each one word.

Anatomical “hot” terms are generally one word: “hotblooded,” “hotheaded,” “hotfoot.”

Most others, from “hot air” to “hot water,” are two words.

But don’t take my word for it. Look it up.

Entry Filed under: one word or two?